1. THE GLOBAL CHALLENGE OF SKILLS – 21
Box 1.1 Skills beyond School: The OECD study of postsecondary vocational education and training Increasingly countries look beyond secondary school to more advanced qualifications to provide the skills needed in many of the fastest growing technical and professional jobs in OECD economies. The OECD study, Skills beyond School, is addressing the range of policy questions arising, including funding and governance, matching supply and demand, quality assurance and equity and access. The study will build on the success of the previous OECD study of vocational education and training Learning for Jobs which examined policy through 17 country reviews and a comparative report. The study also forms part of the horizontal OECD Skills Strategy (OECD, 2012a). Full country policy reviews are being conducted in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Korea, Switzerland, the United Kingdom (England), and the United States (with case studies of Florida, Maryland and Washington State). Shorter exercises leading to an OECD country commentary will be undertaken in Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Egypt, Iceland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and in Northern Ireland and Scotland in the United Kingdom. Background reports will be prepared in all these countries, and in France and Hungary. See: www.oecd.org/education/vet
The US “system” of CTE Seen from the perspective of other OECD countries, CTE in the United States has a number of striking features. While it is highly decentralized, some features are so consistent and distinctive when seen from an international perspective that it does make sense to conceive of a US CTE “system” – an approach that can be collectively appraised in comparison with the arrangements of other countries. Unlike many other OECD countries, relatively few students in upper secondary education (high school) follow vocational programs targeted on a particular profession or occupation. Instead high school students tend to undertake particular CTE courses as part of their general high school diploma, often as a bridge to some form of postsecondary education, rather than directly to a job. Occasional attempts to change this picture have run into opposition from those who argue that any vocational “track” in US high schools might become a second class track into which minorities and other disadvantaged groups would be funneled. Although high schools are extraordinarily diverse, there is a deep attachment to the principle of a comprehensive high school.
OECD REVIEWS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING: A SKILLS BEYOND SCHOOL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES © OECD 2013